Rural Urban Mutual Investment for Youth

I am Victor Ochen, the founder and Director of African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET). I was born in northern Uganda, spent 21yrs of my childhood growing up in the camps, where I survived on one meal-a-day for over 7 years. I grew up amidst over 3 million people, where 60,000+ children were abducted and forcefully recruited as child-soldiers, including my own brother. My organisation working to assist victims of war has provided reconstructive medical repair to 25,000+ war victims of rape and mutilation.    

At the age of 13 years, I formed a Peace Club and bravely led the anti-child soldiers’ recruitment campaign in northern Uganda. Forbes Magazines named me in 2015 as one of the 10 most powerful men in Africa, after being first Uganda and the youngest ever African nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2015. I was appointed the UN Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Justice promoting SDG Goal16.

I pledge myself to work and alleviate human suffering. I hope through my work we will liberate young people from the continued bondage of poverty, deprivation, inequality, gender and all other forms of discrimination. The RUMIY project will strengthen the urban and rural youth population income and revenue streams. Will nurture innovation and incubation of business start-ups of which the outcome will include indigenous pool of entrepreneurs and small business owners. The platform will serve the vulnerable youthful population likes streets kids/youth who are most at risk to be indoctrinated and recruited into criminal gangs, sex workers, homeless former child soldiers/ex-militants, and underprivileged, school drop-outs, brokers, young parents and child-headed households. This will attract young people towards Agriculture which is the productive sectors of our society, it seeks to promote climate resilient and innovative modern/mechanised farming, agribusiness, young famers mentorship, value addition, marketing and promoting local and young humanitarian response

The RUMIY project seeks to provide strategic investment in targeted locally relevant skill-developments, practical innovation and mentorship to economically empower, rehabilitate and resettle urban and rural youth in northern Uganda. These are population that experienced over 20 years of vicious wars, millions were displaced for decades. Today, northern Uganda host over a million refugees, yet facing so much socio economic pressures as majority of young people missed out on better education opportunity due to war. The beneficiaries are direct war victims who remains the most traumatised population in Uganda and continue to face recurrent severe natural disaster such as disease, climate related disasters (drought, flood), recently locusts’ invasion and worst Covid-19. After decades of suffering, most of them as frustrated angry, marginalised, lacks sense belonging and at risk of radicalisation. They represent a force that if it remains untapped and redirected could see society relapsing into wars. RUMIY will provide opportunities that matches and caters for the experience and education of these poorest semi-skilled, unskilled, former child soldiers or those physically and mentally disabled by wars. With high job creations and equal local absorption capacity, the labour market is a very import centrepiece for transforming the post conflict society

The project is an innovative skills concentrated and employment intensive enterprise, seeking to create jobs in the same zone in which majority of young people are. That service intensive sectors demand only small highly qualified personnel, offering few job prospects and leaving millions of youth jobless. It’s a project with deliberate efforts to include important pieces of our society that have not been included through: 

• Urban Youth Development Center: To provide strategic investment in targeted skilling, practical innovation and mentorship to economically empower, rehabilitate and resettle urban youth. With increasing urbanisation, rising technology, population growth and anticipated rise in humanitarian emergencies especially hunger; COVID-19 risk reinforcing the already existing economic vulnerabilities, migrations, income inequalities, access gaps and social protection problems among youth in urban settings.  

• Youth Agency for Community Development: To promote use of climate resilient agricultural practices among the youth for improved social security and mitigation of economic migration. Informed by the pre-existing essential response gaps, the COVID-19 pandemics exposes the urgency to tackling the grassroots youth economic empowerment and inclusion beyond tokenism. Youth in rural communities will be given necessary tools and platforms to co-design Agricultural innovation projects that enables them to thrive socially and economically. 

Over two decades of civil war between the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) rebels and government of Uganda left profound negative impact on the community of northern Uganda arising from wanton killings and massacre, abduction, maiming, sexual slavery, brutality and displacement among others. Young people after years of being targeted and enduring these brutalities are left under extreme stress, lives in community impacted by conflicts, with eroded familial and social ties, at risk of exploitation and with little chance for opportunity competitive job market. 

It’s on this basis that AYINET, an indigenous organization started by young victims and survivors of wars in northern Uganda developed ideas detailing series of intervention aimed at addressing rehabilitative (psychosocial and medical) and socio economic rebuilding victims. The project with among others contribute towards longer term recovery of the post conflict community by addressing the population’s livelihood challenges, psychosocial repair, and creating aimed at behavioural change to avert any combatant motives and create environment for sustainable development. Our intervention is in line with Government and UN recovery frameworks, and it seeks to immensely continue towards return to total peace in Uganda and underline the role of youth setting social economic and political stage for sustainable development

For years, AYINET supported recovery of post conflict northern Uganda, the predominantly young population; which in normal sense would offers the country an unprecedented opportunity for innovation, development and economic growth.  We witnessed majority of opportunities come and they require skills which are way above the 90% of local existing educational competencies. This has widened inequality, mistrust and feeling of despair among those who should be the primary actors in development. This has inspired our robust thinking in a way to create inclusive platforms, and that the answer was the need to innovate means to creates jobs for both skilled and unskilled youthful population.  This is also done with intent to mitigate and potentials conflict that might be arising from economic hardships, as communities are still grappling with multiple and interlinked cyclical of violence. With recent COVID-19 pandemics, we saw youth populations who were too poor to lock-down, engaged in vicious confrontations with state security who were enforcing the COVID-19 precautionary lock-down conditions simply because they survive on informal job sectors of hand to mouth economy. So, the project seeks to mainstream locally relevant skills development as key pillars for livelihood, revenue streams and sustainable development. 

I was born and raised in Lira district of northern Uganda. I spent my entire childhood in the Internally displaced people’s camp. As a child, I had to struggle with my own security, my own education, and I decided to resist joining war, being radicalised and chose peace even when I was suffering. I grew up surviving on one meal a day, and for over seven years. I had to do every casual work as a child in order to pay for my education – in short as a child I never studied to work, but I worked to study. I am trying to help population, the age groups of young people and community who are living the life I lived not so long ago. I promised to my Mother that, even though I have lived all sorts of suffering, I would be there for those in needs, and the voice for usually marginalised population. I know what it means to be hungry, powerless, desperate and am not addressing the problems that I studied but what I lived and survived.  I want to inspire young people and help them transform their traumas and their pains into an opportunity for development

From the time we were living in the camps, amidst all sorts of hardship of hunger, diseases and worst was the killing and abduction of children and forcing them to become child soldiers. I saw one moment after several survivals, when my fellow kids were volunteering to become child soldiers since there was no alternatives. I formed a Peace Club when I was 13 years and the purpose was primarily to de-campaign the Child soldiers’ recruitments. I became the most unpopular among the angry population and armed men. I stood my ground and continued mobilising others for peace. That inspired my journey where after years of continued life in war, I started the African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET), as a youth initiative to mobilise youth and community in promoting peace and development. Since 2005, my initiative has provided reconstructive surgical rehabilitation to over 25,000 victims of rapes, mutilations and gun shots. We supported return and resettlement of hundreds of thousands of refugees, and I was jointly nominated together with my organisation for Nobel Peace Prize in 2015. I was appointed by the UN Secretary General as the Global Ambassador for SDG Goal 16 – Peace Justice and Strong Institutions. I have led in conflict mediations and have seen thousands of youth abandoned the battle fields and returned home to become active members of society. With so much admiration of my stories, there is unprecedented pressure and expectations of me from the young people in our communities. 

My years of experience working in this community and with conflict affected populations, it comes down to trust and identity. I grew up wishing for the better future. Like any child, I wanted education but we had wars instead. Schools and hospitals were burnt. My parents were too poor to afford even just pencil. I lacked school uniforms and my first time to own a shoes I was 14 years old. I cut trees and burnt charcoal my entire childhood to buy my school books. I was mocked as a hopeless dreamer risking his life education that I would never complete. My teachers were never qualified, but primary school drop-outs. I know my story is of pain, but it became a motivation to me and eventually inspiration to others. I hope to inspire other youth who are facing similar situations in life, and I can do it better because I will be implementing the project that seeks to solve - not the problems that I studied or researched, but the problems I faced and life I lived. So, they identify with my stories, they want an inspiration and I may be one of them. 

I remember in 2015, when I was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, there was enormous amount of happiness and most importantly across northern Uganda. I was driving and listening to the radio as they were discussing my nomination, and someone called in and was crying saying “You know we grew up together with Victor Ochen. He had nothing, but was always positive, overly ambitious and always innovatively trying to even solve problems bigger than him then – stopping war by de-campaigning child soldiers’ recruitments. I knew he was risking his life by confronting the military, but he was unstoppable. But, today, I am proud he is nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. He has done more than I can explain, inspired youth, but one thing I am happy about is the proof that even though we people of northern Uganda have been subjected to the worst in life, we are glad that at least something good has still come out of our community.” So, just from this, I saw the healing power on our success to our communities. We felt we were not good enough, but that didn’t stop us from doing good. We to show leadership that gives hope

This project is purely my initiative and to be implemented by my organisation only. Of course we will partner with different actors like government, civil society organisations and community leadership. We hope through the project, many small business and initiatives will emerge 

Over the years, growing up in the society of violent conflict we always asked ourselves why us, and what about us? Why us become the daily and hourly cry. We felt targeted, unwanted and good enough and these feelings were among situation that forced some people to contemplate and joined war. We wondered if the whole world was going through what we were going, and wondered what about us.  Of course I wondered and asked myself if i really needed change, where was I in the picture of change. That question motivated me to act, but act with love and care. I made a choice that in as much as we want change, i shouldn't ever be a reason for further suffering. So, we had to choose whether to pick up the guns to revenge or remain in the community to promote peace, I remained in the community to promote peace. I also wondered whether it was wise to move away to the streets or escape my country like many youth are forced to, but i decided to stay in my community to promote peace, heal our society and make a liveable and developed community. They were all personal sacrifices because i could be owning perhaps PhD or could have attained better education in the best universities in the world. But, I am contented with my work and i see my success at grassroots transforming lives is what better education should be. So, I kept my dreams human and community. 

My younger life has taught me that until human potentials are elevated, sociatel development remains temporary except when local people are empowered enough to own and implement developments meant for them that society can see sustainable development. 

For me through the project, we seek to humanise development. Whether peace, livelihood, education we seek to give the human face first. For instance, we do have several success people who attained highest levels of education, but they're disconnected from their African communities who raised them. So, that's why we seek in this project to first admit that now knowledge is too small to be included, but must embark of skilling youth with locally relevant skills so that they can bring development in their own societies first. 

My organisation is currently serving population from the Greater north of Lango, Acholi, Teso and West Nile regions. Through different programs including the current Covid -19 response, we are reaching at least 7 million people through several projects 

With RUMIY project which we are happy for we will directly and menaingfully 4000 youth in all the four regions. They will be provided skill development and agricultural support. But of course we seek that the ultimate outcome will peaceful rural and urban communities in northern Uganda, where there is restored functionalities of young people's potentials 

It is our hope that in 5 years, we will have directly and meaningful reached 100,000 youth will be equipped with skills and able to economically live on their own 

We seek to be a well established International NGO from Africa, with sufficient response capacity to community needs. This will seek strengthen and the local response system to the emergencies such as natural disasters, Cover-19, disease such as Ebola, Locust etc 

We also seek to strengthen the local humanitarian response capacity and youth humanitarian leadership 

We seek to be a resource centre for African youth innovation, with focus on population who are usually marginalised. The truth is there is an existing mindset that solutions to African problems is overseas and thats why many young African are dying in the Mediterranean Sea trying to escape the continent, and so many are working in the Middle East almost as Slaves. 

We lack sufficient funding 

We lack required technical infrastructure that meets that current demands especially in the world where we committed to amplify voices our rural communities 

We lack infrastructure for value addition, especially on agricultural farm production and productivities 

We seek to increase our partnerships like bring MIT to those local population will never afford it anyway 

We are applying for funding/engage into resource mobilisation 

We are in search for a donor to support us in establishing the technology centre 

We partner with Optimus Foundation of UBS

We partner with UN Agencies - UN trust fund for torture victims, UNDP, UN Human Rights 

We Partner with embassies who provide small grants to some of our projects 

The business model includes imparting skills which are usable locally, especially in agricultural sectors where we are doing training on agribusiness,  value addition, and provision of ready market which aims to support local  local production. Our approach presents the opportunity for every citizens to contribute toward the national economy, through revenues streams from trade and developments. Also, Uganda is naturally an agricultural country, with so much potential of moderate investment into agricultural technology, and yet will have high returns. Therefore, given the demands in humanitarian response in the regions, communities can be supported to produce sufficient food almost to be purchased and supported in emergency and humanitarian response. So, the project will promote the local humanitarian leadership and response capacity.  

Inspired by the recent lock-down challenges where the most affected were young people and poor population who survives on daily hand to mouth economy, the project will seek to support business starts-ups for the beneficiaries and small business ownerships. 

We all continue to lobby for financial support from development partners and the government, but our approach is as well self sustaining as we seek to empower individuals who will produce and we purchase from them the products. And, the same products will be there for redistribution to new sets of beneficiaries. With structures created, small business ownerships and market availability, the project will be self sufficient to a greater extent 

We have not yet raised sufficient funds, but reaching out to key partners 

Yes, I am working with the team and in consultation with strategic partners on how to bests raise resources 

My initiative as of now has annual budget of slightly above $ 1 million 

I am applying for this grant because I need support. For years we have been applying for grants but rarely do we get successful, because there is a general perception that local or indigenous initiatives especially from Africa are not goto enough. There is a generalised perception that youth initiatives are not good enough either. But, we stood the taste of time and want to prove to ourselves that our struggle for local change has never been wrong, all we need to do is to be consistently committed to societal transformations. 

Also, the key to why we are applying is we want to strengthen our local humanitarian response capacity. We have seen on may occasion where people are made to suffer because humanitarian support must either be mobilised by UN in Geneva or New York, and local population remains powerless to help even among themselves. It is our wish that through programs like this, we will inspire, mobilise and promote the spirit of local humanitarian response and inspire young generation of humanitarian leaders 

But, because funding is always the challenge for indigenous African organisations and initiatives, this is the reason why we want to promote the sufficient local power for emergency response 

Supporting this project will be an act of planting seeds, a motivation for local innovations and inspiration for African youth to do it on their own. This is why i am applying for this grant 

The organisation i lead have over the years (in the last 15 years) built sufficient local, national and international partnerships. AYINET which is my organisation have been in partnership with UN over many years in community projects. We have built working relationships with institutions such as Universities in Uganda like Makerere, Lira and Gulu Universities, and outside world Universities like Feinstein Centre of Tuft University, Overseas Development Institute in London, Norwegian School of Economics, Cape Town University 

I have been working with African Union as a consultant where I participated in conducting the Continental study on the role of youth in Peace and Security 

I participated in drafting the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2250, on the role of youth in Peace and Security

I have been in several global partnership especially when it comes to issues of youth and peace. One example is the Commonwealth Youth Council 

I would like to partner with organisations involved in youth development, those working with urbanisations, those involved in Agricultural and those working in technology industries. 

We would as well like to partner with institutions of learning, to create opportunity for our African youth who may never chance to go or see the kind of education in the Western World. 

We would like to work with Government especially the development arms whose visions and missions are around promoting technology, youth development and sustainable development Goals 

And most importantly, we would like to partner with Technology industries. People in our regions are all consumers of technologies, and its difficuilt for our people to understand how to best use these technologies for their growth. We would be glad to be connected with some of these giant tech industries, especially with intention of bringing the offline community online, or ensuring that we fight against margination and inequality which is sky-rocketting since offline communities are being left behind.